Heinz has long been synonymous with baked beans, a product so iconic that it’s literally part of the brand’s slogan. But, in 2025, the company is leveraging that legacy to move into new territory, expanding Beanz beyond the tin, one pouch at a time.

The brand says its new Beanz Meals range combines beans and pulses with global flavours in ready-to-heat 250g pouches, designed to meet a new generation of shoppers’ needs for healthy food without compromising taste and convenience.

However, for Heinz director of meals Alessandra de Dreuille the move is as much about strategy as it is about taste.

“In the last two or three years, there’s been a bit of a rebirth — people are starting to see all the benefits that come from beans, both from a sustainability perspective, nutrition and affordability,” she explains.

“So we saw that as an opportunity to expand, from Beanz with a Z to beans more broadly, as a strategy for our business.”

Expanding Beanz beyond the tin

Heinz is not the first brand to step into the crowded grains and beans pouch market. However, the brand says flavours in the range, such as Chilli Black Beanz, Curry Chickpeaz and Tomato Cannellini Beanz, were designed to stand out among strong competition.

“We saw a gap around world cuisine and more flavour excitement,” says de Dreuille. “Then convenience… they’re ready in 90 seconds and you don’t need to add anything if you don’t want to.”

And, De Druille adds, health credentials were non-negotiable. “We put a lot of effort into having only 100% natural ingredients, no added sugar, and one or two of your five-a-day. That’s one of the main differences compared to other pouches in the market.”

Meanwhile, the flavours themselves came from the data. “Chickpeas are by far the number one pulse in grocery, and the curry chickpeas are actually our best seller,” she notes. “The chilli black beans came from seeing how popular chilli con carne is with the consumers we’re targeting. We basically picked some of the most popular dishes and made them our own.”

Photo: Heinz’ new Beanz pouch range was inspired by “a gap around world cuisine”

More importantly, for Heinz, Beanz Meals are both a brand extension and a step towards a broader platform. “It’s probably a broader pulses platform, but at the same time one that hopes to still touch on the nostalgia people have for the brand,” de Dreuille says.

“Compared to others in that space, Heinz has a nostalgic memory for consumers, it just needed a different proposition to fit their needs.”

Heinz has already gathered figures on consumer demand, as the pouches have been live on Ocado for more than a year, providing useful early insight. “We already have some incrementality data — 60% of buyers of this new range are incremental to Heinz Beanz,” she confirms. “They tend to be a bit younger, under 35, compared to our core baked beans shopper, who tends to be older.”

De Dreuille says that a younger demographic points to significant headroom. “Penetration of baked beans is in the high seventies instead of the nineties among younger consumers, so we saw an opportunity to cater to that group as well,” she adds. The meals business itself has been identified internally as a growth pillar.

“It’s a category that has already more than doubled in the last five years, and we think it can more than double again in the next five,” says de Dreuille. “It will still be smaller than some of the bigger categories we play in, but definitely significant enough for us to have a proposition with scale.”,

Standing out in a competitive market

Much of the attempt to stand out in a competitive market has relied on support from retailers, for both online and in-store roll out: After online trials, the range is now exclusive to Sainsbury’s and Ocado, with other retailers expected to follow.

“Sainsbury’s have been really supportive,” says de Dreuille. “We have sampling activities in-store and a lot of shopper marketing support to make sure people really see it.”

At £2.50 per pouch, she argues the value perception is right. “We see it as a full meal, healthier and cheaper than a lot of the takeaways or ready meals you can have instead, and much more nutritious.”

In reference to the price, like the rest of the industry, de Dreuille says Heinz is adapting to the cost implications of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

With other brands releasing similar grains, pulses and beans pouch ranges, Heinz says taste and health credentials separate it from the rest of the market.

“We think it’s the right thing to do, the principle makes sense,” she says. “The challenge has been that we had very late visibility and the costs are much higher than in similar programmes in Europe.”

Even so, Heinz has “done our very best to absorb the majority of this tax and pass as little as possible to consumers”, while working with R&D on lighter packaging to reduce future costs.

Entering a crowded category, it is clear that it is taste that Heinz sees as its biggest differentiator from its rivals.

“There’s definitely a taste point we’re proud of,” she says. “That comes from our expertise on pulses and sauces, and when we combine them, we think our products are really delicious. Reviews on Ocado are all really high, between four and five stars.”

The brand’s “clean label” positioning also helps: 100% natural ingredients, no artificial flavours, and a source of protein and fibre. The range’s health qualities were boosted by a need to “tap into this global cuisine trend, but in a quite mainstream way,” said De Dreuille. “We basically picked some of the most popular dishes and just made them our own.”

Looking ahead, it is clear the food manufacturer’s appetite for innovation isn’t slowing. Heinz’s consumer campaign, Create a Flavour, invited fans to dream up their ideal Beanz recipes, with three winning flavours launching next month.

Meanwhile, the brand is also backing its new meals with marketing under its Irrational Love master brand platform.
“It’s called Too Good To Leave Behind,” de Dreuille says. “It unites all our categories under one message. We’re continuing to support our core while building excitement through innovation.”

For Heinz, the future of Beanz is about expanding how, and where, Britain eats them.

“It may be a new way to enjoy Heinz Beanz,” she says, “but we know beans fans will obsess over them just as much.”